According to David Kaplan, Terry Francona should not be the next Cubs manager. An excellent baseball source told Kaplan than Epstein and Francona are not as close as many reports have mention. Many tweets came out yesterday saying Terry Francona is on Epstein and Co.’s list of potential managerial candidates. The tweets mentioned that if the Cubs did indeed decide to hire Francona, he would not need an interview.
Why would the Cubs want to hire Terry Francona? Don’t get me wrong, Francona did do magic with the Boston Red Sox. However, the last 2 years were anything but good, especially the end to the 2011 season where the Red Sox did not make the playoffs. The Red Sox had a big lead in the Wild Card until September hit and they posted a 7-20 record in September and the Tampa Bay Rays swooped in and stole the Wild Card crown. If the Red Sox had posted just one more win in September, maybe Epstein and Francona would still be in Boston, but both are out now. After the season concluded, reports came out that Terry Francona lost the clubhouse. That doesn’t come as a surprise, but players drinking before games and the use of pain killers did. We don’t know if this is true or not, but it would make sense if it is. So I just don’t see Francona as a good fit right now.
Also, do we seriously want the Cubs to be the new Red Sox? If Terry Francona were to be hired, Epstein would be bringing a lot of his former co-workers over. Theo Epstein will be back with Jed Hoyer, Jason McLeod and then Terry Francona. Also, maybe more could come over that we don’t know of right now. Theo Epstein said he wants the Cubs to have a new culture and that wouldn’t be doing so.
Ken Rosenthal has stated recently that the Cubs will not hire any current managers or Terry Francona. He has not said anything about the new news of Francona possibly being considered. Hopefully, this holds up.
Cubs chairman and owner Tom Ricketts is not having a say in the first round of interviews. However, when Theo Epstein and Co. are close to naming the Cubs next manager, Tom Ricketts will be let in to voice his opinion. As of this moment, that does not seem close.
I honestly don’t think the Cubs will hire Francona and I think Epstein will eventually do the ‘Ryne Sandberg’ treatment by calling Terry Francona and saying he’s not a candidate for the Cubs position. That will also shut down the all media reports of Terry Francona.
Is it a good or bad move by saying NO to Terry Francona?
The Rumor Season Begins
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4 Comments
o so you don’t want the Cubs to be the Red Sox? I’ll take 90 wins a season and 2 world series. Maybe thats just me?
No I don’t. I want the Cubs to be their own team.
but you dont want 90 wins and 2 titles?
I do, but the Cubs way. Taking guys from the Red Sox to the Front office is fine, but it stops there. Go a different route in finding a manager. Madduz and Sveum should get the gig.